2024年2月9日发(作者：)

Chinese,Cinderella:中国灰姑娘中文版

The 14-year-old Wei Minzhi appeared as the female

lead in “Not One Less”, a 1998 movie directed by

Zhang Yimou. The docudrama describes how a stubborn

young substitute teacher in a tiny provincial town

does all her can to keep the class together. The film

was shot on location and all the people in the film

were nonactors. This film made Wei Minzhi well known

across the country. In addition to a string of honors

at home and abroad, the film won Golden Lion at Venice

Film Festival in 1999. The film dramatically

changed the life of Wei Minzhi and her family. A story

in the issue of April of 20__ Cultural Dialogue

relates how she was cast for the movie, how people

helped her and her family after the movie was screened,

how she matriculated at the Xi’an Foreign Languages

Institute and became a student majoring in movie and

television directing in 20__ and how, with the help of

Dr. Chen Ergang, she was enrolled by Brigham Young

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University and became a student of its Hawaii campus

in 20__. In July 20__, Wei Minzhi came back with

an American production group to shoot an

autobiographical documentary in China. The

autobiographical documentary is called “The Daughter

of a Miracle”. Wei and her group went to Chicheng

County which is her home county, Shijiazhuang where

she went to high school, and Xi’an where she studied

at Xi’an Foreign Languages Institute. The documentary

is scheduled to be screened in the winter of 20__. Her

purpose for making this cinematic autobiography is to

recall the past of her life, to express her gratitude,

and to spread the message that hard work leads to

miracles. She is an assistant director and appears as

herself in the documentary. Wei Minzhi said she

was planning to take a graduate course at Brigham

Young University and the university appreciated her

intention. Wei Minzhi came back to China with her

husband David and parents-in-law. She first met David

on the campus of BYU in Hawaii at a party shortly

after her arrival. She instantly spotted an oriental

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face in the crowd at the party. David came over and

said hello. Wei Minzhi found that David spoke only a

little Chinese. In October 20__, Wei Minzhi met David

again at a party when she was playing Chinese chess

with her classmates. David gave her tips on some moves.

After the chess games, they chatted. Wei learned more

about David and his family background. His is a

Chinese family that has been in America for five

generations. He was studying motion picture arts at

the university and was one year ahead of Wei Minzhi.

About a year later, David was invited to appear as a

character in an assignment of a classmate of Wei. The

two had more chances to meet each other. After the

assignment, David invited Wei to be his partner as a

school dancing party. Romance between the two started.

In 20__, David proposed twice, first on New Year’s

Day and second on Valentine’s Day. She nodded on

Valentine’s Day in Honolulu, Hawaii. On July 7th,

20__, they got married. Wei’s parents did not come to

attend the wedding due to visa problems.

Wei’s parents are all for the marriage. Wei keeps in

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touch with them through video and audio functions of

Internet. David first met his parents-in-law also

through the computer video. David is determined to

come back to China with Wei Minzhi in future. Though

David’s parents can hardly speak Chinese, their

pronunciation of Minzhi in Chinese is perfect. The

mother-in-law said she was surprised to find that Wei

Minzhi is such a high-profile newsmaker in China.

According to her, few people in Hawaii are aware that

her daughter-in-law was such a celebrity. She said,

“We are interested to visit places where Minzhi once

lived. We like her simple and lovely personality. She

is our dear.” During Wei’s visit to her

motherland, Wei had a chance to comment on the miracle

in her life. She said that without “Not One Less”

she would have stayed at home raising pigs, getting

married, giving birth to kids and working as a

housewife; she would not have had the opportunity to

study abroad and would not have been able to change

the fate of her and her family. A lot of people

believe miracles have happened to her. But she firmly

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believes the real life-changing miracle that has

happened to her is education. Wei Minzhi and her

husband plan to have a baby as soon as possible. They

plan to live and work in China after David finishes

his studies. David is learning Chinese. The couple

plans to work in China’s film industry in the future.

After 12 years, Wei Minzhi still resembles the girl in

her life-changing movie: zealous and one-minded about

doing what she wants to do. With her life changed, she

now wants to help other people.

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